Power Down
by russianbear0027
Summary: A short script about Paul and Technology. Written without dialouge.


ESTABLISHING SHOT

EXT. TOWNHOUSE- AFTERNOON

A row of townhouses newly painted white sits in orderly rows, lawns green and mowed to the desired thickness, and every car polished to a bright sheen.

INT. LIVING ROOM- AFTERNOON

The living room has been stripped bare, down to the white plaster walls and the furniture has all been moved elsewhere to make room.

JUMP CUTS:

A large cardboard box is placed against the wall, blocking the window. More boxes follow.

The entire window is eventually blocked off by boxes as one last small box is placed on top of the pile.

REVERSE ANGLE—- PAUL (37) steps back from his handiwork and pauses to wipe his brow. Paul is a white male with the appearance of a former athlete gone to seed. He is dressed in a green wife-beater and cargo shorts, topped off with brown sandals that are half a size too small.

Paul gazes upon his work and nods with approval. He then moves forward and moves one of the boxes to the center of the living room.

Paul attempts to tear off the tape holding the flaps together but finds that he cannot due to his lack of fingernails. He turns and leaves the living room.

INT. KITCHEN- AFTERNOON

Paul begins opening various drawers and pulling out assorted cooking utensils. He assembles a pile consisting of forks, spoons, knives of varying sizes, and a cutting board. He nods in approval once again.

INT. LIVING ROOM- AFTERNOON

Paul reenters the living room and approaches the box with his "tools". He places the cutting board underneath the box and begins to work on the tape with the various utensils.

2.

Paul jabs at the tape with a spoon.

He tosses the now bent spoon away and picks up a fork before resuming his jabbing.

Putting down the fork, the prongs bent every-which way,

Paul picks up a butter knife. He tries to cut the tape but sees that the results are minimal. He sighs and resumes cutting.

Finally he puts down a meat-cleaver and opens the battered flaps of the box.

He puts the meat-cleaver down on a pile of now bent and twisted kitchen utensils.

Paul pulls out various bags containing large pieces of wood and sets them aside. He then pulls out the assembly manual for the television stand, which is the size of a library-issue dictionary. He opens the manual and gets to work.

INT. LIVING ROOM HOURS LATER- THAT EVENING

Paul sits back and looks at the assembled television stand sitting at the front of the living room. The top shelf is placed a spot too low and there are pieces of tape and spots of gorilla glue all over it. Some of the bolts are not screwed in all the way.

Paul returns to the pile of boxes and pulls out another box. He glances at the pile of ruined kitchen utensils and then leaves the living room.

INT. KITCHEN- EVENING

Paul is rummaging through the drawers for more utensils when he finds a box opener lying underneath a roll of tape. He picks it up and stares at it for a few seconds before shaking his head in exasperation and returning to the living room.

INT. LIVING ROOM- EVENING

3.

Paul opens the box with ease and pulls out a thirty-inch flat screen television. He gives it an adoring look before returning to the box and pulling out the component cables and manual, this one considerably smaller.

Paul places the television on the stand, which instantly creaks under the weight and sags slightly. Paul watches anxiously with his hands outstretched for about a minute before slowly reaching for the cables. He picks up the cables and holds up one end towards the television. Paul sees he has placed the television too close to the wall and puts the cables down.

Paul reaches forward and inches the television towards himself until there is enough room to fit his arm behind the television. He picks the cables back up and begins installing them.

Paul plugs a cable into an outlet and a spark jumps into his finger, causing him to fall back in surprise. He looks at the outlet warily and tries again with caution. He puts the end of the cable close to the outlet and then withdraws repeatedly before finally taking a deep breath and turning his head away before plugging the cable in. No sparks fly.

Paul stands back up and returns to the pile of boxes and starts to push one that is taller than himself to the center of the room. Paul picks up the box cutter but realizes that he cannot reach the top of the box to cut the flaps, so he tries to cut the sides instead.

INT. LIVING ROOM-LATER THAT NIGHT

Paul drops the box cutter in frustration and looks at the few scrapes he has managed to make on the box. He pauses to think for a moment and then leaves the living room.

INT. GARAGE- NIGHT

The lights turn on in the garage as Paul steps in and looks over various tools lining the walls. He walks by a sledgehammer, a hatchet, and a shovel, before stopping in front of a particular object.

REVERSE ANGLE—- Paul's hands reach up and pull a chainsaw off of the wall.

4.

EXT. TOWNHOUSE- NIGHT

A cat walking on the lawn bolts and runs as sounds of the chainsaw REVVING start coming from the living room. Paul's silhouette is seen bringing the chainsaw down on the box and working his way down.

INT. LIVING ROOM- NIGHT

Paul drags one of the large speakers out of the box. His face is flushed, red, and sweaty. His feet brush aside scraps of cardboard as he moves the speaker so that it is sitting next to the television. He turns and goes back to the box for the other speaker.

INT. LIVING ROOM- LATER THAT NIGHT

Paul steps back from the set up speakers and looks down at his watch. The face reads 9:37 pm. He looks back at the rest of the boxes and sighs as he goes back over to them.

INT. LIVING ROOM-LATER THAT NIGHT

A DVD player is placed on the stand beneath the television.

Various cables are plugged into the outlets behind the stand.

A cable box is placed below the stand.

Paul's hand turns the knob on the stereo up to maximum.

Paul steps back from the fully assembled entertainment system but realizes something is missing. He goes to the window and picks up the last box, which is the small one. He opens it and pulls out a complex looking remote, which he sets on top of the television.

INSERT: CLOCK READING 11:42 PM

The hands quickly spin to read 12:29 am.

INT. LIVING ROOM- MIDNIGHT

5.

All of the furniture is now placed back in their proper places and Paul is reclining on a dark blue couch. A bowl

of nachos sits on a small stand next to the armrest and the

remote sits next to it. Paul picks up the remote, smiles and aims at the television before hitting the "ON" switch.

EXT. EARTH FROM SPACE- NIGHT

A glimmer of light appears in the center of North America, brighter than all the other lights. A small ripple extends from the glimmer and distorts the other lights around it. All of the lights in the North American continent and the upper half of Central America flicker and then go out simultaneously.

INT. LIVING ROOM- NIGHT

The entire living room is bare, save for the entertainment system, Paul, and the couch he is sitting on. Angry voices can be heard from outside. The wall behind Paul is now missing and debris and furniture can be seen scattered around the front yard behind him. Paul's hair is pushed back on his head and his arm is still raised with the remote in hand.

Paul slowly looks at the remote and then back at the television as he pushes the power switch again as if to turn the television off.

REVERSE ANGLE—- Nothing happens for a few minutes. The entire entertainment system then collapses in on itself.

Screen fades to black and Paul is heard sighing.

FADE OUT.

---

Well then, this is the first story I've published, so I hope you enjoyed it. no flames please.  
and for format purists...FF .net took away all of our formatting

This was written in a class together with A. Wang


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